Dreadful Habit
by Yoruichi 'Ino
Summary: They both had a dreadful habit, and surprisingly, it was that dreadful habit that brought them together again. SasuIno Read Author's Notes First
1. Sasuke

Okay, so this is like totally out of my comfort zone. There are some sensitive issues involved, but I noticed Ino and Sasuke both wear armbands and well, I had this darkish thought that involves cutting. Its scary how so many people in the world go through this…and I understand it well. But I just hope that they find at least a little bit of peace soon. I was sort of if-y on whether or not to post this, but let's see what you guys think. Any who, this has three parts: Sasuke's point of view, then Ino's point of view, and finally, the omniscient point of view. Thank you all for taking the time to read this!

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--Dreadful Habit--  
**Disclaimer:** If I had a lawyer, he or she would tell me that I would never be able to own Naruto.  
**Summary:** They both had a dreadful habit, and surprisingly, it was that dreadful habit that brought them together again. SasuIno

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--Chapter One: Sasuke's Pain--

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Throughout the years, Sasuke had felt pain as no one had experienced before. His hero, his own brother, had killed off the entire Uchiha clan. His aunts, his uncles, his cousins, his mother and father were all gone because of Itachi Uchiha. What killed Sasuke the most was that his older brother had decided to massacre the clan just as things were starting to look up for him.

Ever since Sasuke could remember, he had been forced to live up to his brother's reputation. Itachi could do this at this age; Itachi had done that at that age. And even though it killed him to the core to be compared to his brother, he only competed with all his might because he wanted the approval of one man and one man only: Fugaku Uchiha.

To Sasuke, it felt as if his father never paid him any heed. All he ever did was talk about his eldest son. All he cared about was Itachi and how he had gotten into ANBU Black Ops. Sasuke never heard a, "That's my boy," directed towards him. That is, there was only one time when it did happen. It was all thanks to the fact that he had mastered that fireball jutsu. Just when Fugaku had been proud of Sasuke, Itachi had to take that away. But there was another thing the boy missed more: Midori Uchiha.

Sasuke's mom had been an angel. She had also been incredibly beautiful. Her eyes shone with the kindness only a mother could provide; Sasuke always remembered how his mother use to look at him with those eyes of hers and how he felt loved. Then her slender lips would curve up into an astonishing smile. But what Sasuke missed the most were her warm hugs and her kisses.

"Mom."

Now, the thirteen-year-old boy had nothing, nothing at all. His entire family was gone. No one in Konoha really cared about him. No one really knew him, though some people thought they did. All his fan girls only liked him for his looks and abilities, but who actually liked him? None of them.

Well, there was one girl: Ino Yamanaka. She had been there for him before the massacre. She had been his best friend. The only one who had seen him as a unique individual and praised him for what he could 

do. She wasn't the utmost interested that he was part of the legendary Uchiha clan. But because of his selfishness, he had pushed her away. He couldn't bring himself to get closer to her again.

So that was why Sasuke was there tonight. As he sat on the hilltop, leaning against a tree, Sasuke absent-mindedly spun a kunai on his finger. All he wanted right now was to feel a pain other that the one he had felt every minute of everyday for the past few years—a pain he could actually control. He then halted the spinning kunai.

Sasuke looked at the starry sky with a sigh. He brought his arm closer to him and lowered his armband. His entire left arm was covered with cuts. Some were longer than others, and some of them were still pretty fresh. Sasuke closed his eyes and took a deep breath before once again opening them.

With his right hand, the avenger once again took hold of the kunai. He gripped it tightly and clenched his left fist. Once the kunai was close enough, Sasuke added a new cut to his arm. He grunted from the pain as he watched blood flow over his arm and drip onto the grass. Then slowly, he brought the kunai to his arm again and began making incision after incision. All his anger and sadness, every awful feeling his had bottled up, was being taken out on his arm.

Sasuke finally stopped cutting and dropped the kunai aside. Silent tears were pouring down Sasuke's onyx eyes. The Uchiha wiped the tears away and closed his eyes. Suddenly, his eyes shot up wide open when he heard someone approaching. He stood still as the night as he tried to hear more.

'What? It sounds like someone is crying. Almost…like a girl.'

Sasuke detached himself from the tree. He slowly stood up, not bothering to wipe away any of the blood. Most of it had dried up anyways. He checked behind the tree and there, a few feet away, was a crying girl. Sasuke approached closer to the girl and noticed her bleeding arm. He landed in front of her and called out her name. She looked up and said, "Sasuke?"


	2. Ino

Author's notes…

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--Chapter Two: Ino's Pain--

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Ino had always been the happy, bubbly type. She was well known for her loud and bossy personality. Her teammates were especially known to this side of her. But even though Ino portrayed as a carefree girl, she had experienced quite a handful of losses in just a few years.

Because of a boy, she had lost her best friend: Sakura Haruno. It killed Ino to the core because she had seen Sakura as a sister. Ino had befriended this girl, who was always being teased, and helped her come out of her shell. Sakura had shared all her secrets with the blonde, and Ino did the same with pink-haired girl. Then Sakura found out Ino had feelings for Sasuke, and rather than decide to choose friendship over boys, Sakura had chosen to break off their special bond. Sadly, the emerald-eyed girl didn't know Ino's entire story. Sakura never knew about the special bond she had had with the avenger.

Ino's crush on Sasuke didn't start because of Sakura. A few years before Ino had met Sakura, the Yamanaka had lost another best friend: Sasuke Uchiha. True no one would imagine such a strange friendship now, but it had happened. Those two were truly inseparable. Ino and Sasuke would literally wait for each other everyday after class to hang out. But all that came to a stop when Itachi Uchiha killed off Sasuke's relatives. The survivor then shut himself from the rest of the world, including Ino. He always pushed her away, saying she didn't understand—she couldn't understand. Little did Sasuke know, however, during his absence from the blonde, Ino had also lost someone precious in her family.

A few months after Sasuke began avoiding Ino, the unthinkable occurred: her mother passed away. Ino knew a ninja's life was always in danger; but her mother had been so brilliant, Ino never imagined her life would be taken away from her so brutally. Ino's mother had been sent on an espionage mission, but the man she had been ordered to spy on knew of her little mission before hand. And while the Lady Yamanaka tried to get her information, the man stabbed her unexpectedly in multiple places—resulting in her death.

Ino had been devastated at hearing about her mother's death. She had spent months crying in secret, and she wouldn't do it in public. After all, it was one of the shinobi rules: never show any emotions under any circumstances. But how Ino missed her mother's soothing voice when it came time for her to sleep. She missed being in her mother's arm, and receiving her sweet kisses. Ino could remember being so inspired to become a kunoichi because of her mother.

"Mom."

Now the thirteen-year-old had nothing of her own. She had no real friends or mother. All the supposed friends she had decided to abandon her, as Sakura had done. Sure Shikamaru was her best friend, but he spent more time with Chouji—though Ino understood why completely. Chouji needed Shikamaru more than she did. But who was Ino left with? With everything going on, Ino struggled to hide all her emotions.

After so many years of bottled up emotions, Ino scurried off to the hilltop. With a lifeless gleam in her eyes, the Yamanaka landed on her knees and ran her hand through the grass. She reached for her tools pocket and pulled out a kunai. Ino began spinning her kunai, only to stop a moment afterwards.

Her entire left arm was covered with incisions she had made herself. Ino once again held onto her kunai and ran the sharp tip of the kunai across her arm. She drew in a sharp breath and began to cry. She looked up at the sky and began crying harder and harder. She once again picked up her kunai and began cutting her arm quickly.

'I hate this! Why do I keep doing this?'

She then got tired and threw her kunai far away from herself. She brought her hands to her face and cried nonstop. Not even the beautiful starry night could calm her tears. All of the sudden, Ino felt someone land in front of her and say, "Ino?" Ino looked up and called out to the boy in front of her.


	3. SasuIno

Well, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed this story. This is the last chapter, and though it started a bit darkish, the story will have a happy ending. Or else I wouldn't be living up to my reputation. xD Well, thank you once again, and enjoy. Dedicated to Blacktears110 for encouraging me to do multi-chapters. Hope you like it!

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--Chapter Three: SasuIno--

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Sasuke began walking towards Ino very slowly. The nearer he got, the more he noticed she had been bleeding. Once he stood in front of her, he knew she had her guard down. She hadn't even sensed him. Ino looked so vulnerable. He landed on his knees and softly murmured, "Ino?"

Ino lowered her hands and peered up. Tears were still flowing down her pale cheeks. Her eyes were shocked to see the dark-haired boy in front of her. "Sasuke?"

"What are you doing?" The Uchiha's firm voice once again had returned.

"Nothing."

"Oh yeah? Then why is your arm filled with cuts and blood?" Sasuke grabbed Ino's arm and pointed towards it. "This isn't you."

"Oh yeah, Sasuke. Because you know me so well." Ino snatched her arm back and glared at the boy in front of her. "This is the first time you've talked to me in years. Besides, I'm not the only one who's doing it."

Sasuke watched as Ino indicated towards his own left arm. He mirrored Ino's glare and softly growled. He had completely forgotten why he had gone there in the first place. "So? It's none of your business, Yamanaka."

"No offense, Sasuke, but you came to me. Remember that?"

"Whatever."

"No, it's not 'whatever,' Sasuke! I didn't ask you to come here! I was perfectly fine on my own!"

"Hn. I can see that. You were probably stalking me and trying to get my attention. It's not going to work, so you can leave now!"

Fury overtook Ino's eyes. How dare he say she would do that? The Yamanaka quickly stood up and stared angrily at the boy. Next thing Sasuke knew, a red hand print was plastered on his cheek. "Don't you dare say that, Sasuke! You are such an egoistic bastard! You don't know the hell I've been through!"

Sasuke stood up as well, his glare equaling that of Ino's. How dare she lay a hand on him? He stood in a fighting stance and said, "Your pain? Listen, Ino. No one lays a finger on me like that. Why don't we settle this over a fight?"

"It'll be my pleasure." Ino got into her stance as well. Anger was flowing through all her being. Within a few seconds, Ino and Sasuke started throwing attacks towards one another.

Sasuke charged at Ino with a kunai in hand. Ino was charging at him as well; she mentally rewarded herself because Sasuke wasn't using his Sharingan on her. In other circumstances, she would have been furious. But right now, it meant she could perform jutsus without fear of them being copied. She smiled as she performed a hand sign while charging at Sasuke.

"Is that all you got, Yamanaka?" The Uchiha pierced his kunai into Ino's arm. But then, _POOF_! a log was replaced where the blonde should have been.

"Not even close." Ino jumped from the tree above Sasuke, her foot aiming at Sasuke's face. The Yamanaka managed to hit him square in the jaw. She landed swiftly on the ground and smirked.

"Too bad this ends now." Sasuke wiped the blood from his lip and smirked. He got up and slowly made his way towards Ino. The blonde started to feel highly unsure. The Uchiha was just walking up to her. This couldn't be right.

"What are you planning?"

"This." Ino, still in her stance, gasped as she saw Sasuke vanish. She looked all around for him and grew frantic at not being able to spot him. Suddenly, the Uchiha reappeared behind her. He turned her around and pushed her against a tree. Both knew their chakra was running low, and didn't know how long they could keep this up.

Then cerulean eyes stared into obsidian eyes. All the hatred they had previously possessed vanished with that one look.

"Why are you doing it?" Sasuke softly whispered, his body still pressed against Ino's body.

"I lost you, Sakura, and my mom. After all the years of hiding the pain, it just stored up. I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to feel a different pain for once." Ino's head lowered and turned to the side, trying to avoid Sasuke's gaze. "And you? Why are you doing it?"

Ino turned back to look at Sasuke. He could feel their breathing moving in sync. Unlike when Ino answered, Sasuke kept his gaze on the blonde. "I lost my family, and then because of my fault, I lost the only person who cared about me: you. I needed to feel a pain I could control."

Ino moved her head towards Sasuke's head. Sasuke's head moved to rest on Ino's shoulder. For a while, they stood in silence, listening to each other's breathing.

"Why did you leave me?"

"I thought Itachi would hurt anything associated with me. I didn't want anything to happen to you. I loved you too much to let Itachi hurt you. I wanted to protect you."

"Well, with you ignoring me, you still hurt me. I loved you, too."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Just please, don't leave me anymore." They both looked at each other's faces once again.

"I won't." With their bodies still pressed against one another, Ino's arms reached up to encircle Sasuke's neck. Sasuke, in return, placed his hands on her waist.

As if they had waited an eternity to be together, Ino and Sasuke's lips met each other at last. All the feeling they had hidden for years was expressed in an ardent kiss. It made them forget about all their problems and especially the stinging in their arms.

Their dreadful habit would be no more. They had found a better way to ease their pain.


End file.
